Sending and Receiving e-mail
 

We will be in Spain, Italy, Greece and Turkey. I am not up on the latest tech stuff out there as I do not travel for business. Is there a phone or PDA that you can use internationally to get e-mail? In the past, the phone card things are not as easy as people say. Buy them in the US and spend lots of time trying to get it to work only to give up. Buying phone cards in an English speaking country is easy and the best. Bought a phone in France and had to have an interpreter set it up and then try to find people who could find out why the phone kept tex messaging me only to find out it was solicitations (that's what happens when the calls in are free). So I am now looking just to find e-mail without having to try to find an internet cafe with an used computer.

If it's just for emails why not just use internet cafes?

A Pocket PC with a WiFi link works fine. So does a laptop with a wireless or wired connection. Most hotel rooms have some kind of jack you can use, and many have a PC in the lobby for the use of guests.

Phones are great for texting, but setting up email that works is tricky, in my experience.

Hi RA,

> In the past, the phone card things are not as easy as people say. Buy them in the US and spend lots of time trying to get it to work only to give up.<

You could buy an international phone card in the country to which you are traveling. They are quite cheap.

Also, you could use an internet cafe for email.

((I))

Another vote for internet cafes. It doesn't get easier than that.

I wouldn't worry about carrying something else around, and expensive at that, to lose,misplace, or not have work. Internet points are all over the place, very inexpensive, and easy to use. I'd simply use them, it's so much easier and cheaper.

since the OP is going to italy, maybe he or she doesn't want to submit to all of the privacy invasions that are mandatory for users of italian internet cafes....all in the name of terror prevention.

What privacy invasions are those? I used internet cafés extensively on my two trips to Italy in 2006 and don't recall any "privacy invasions."

>>>>>
I used internet cafés extensively on my two trips to Italy in 2006 and don't recall any "privacy invasions."
>>>>>


in italy, a law was passed after the london bombings that requires customers to have their passports copied, all internet activity is logged against the person's identity and submitted to the government.

has this law been repealed (it may well have been)? or did you have this treatment and not see it as a privacy invasion?

2Italy - welcome to the 19th century. ;)

I used several internet cafes in Siena in March, and was always asked for documentation, although the cafe I used most frequently was happy t accept my UK photo driving license.

Keep in mind that anything you type into a public computer is potentially visible to the entire world.

Do NOT use anyone else's computer for sensitive email or accessing financial sites.

Thanks for the info. Internet cafes when you have a busy schedule are not what I want to be doing. I worry about privacy and you spend time waiting for a computer. I just want to know if anyone has used anything else. I will look into the pocket PC.

Is it safe to use internet cafes to transfer money from our bank accounts. We intend to transfer monies along the way rather than have all money in our visacard? we are away for 7 weeks - California, Calgary, Europe extensively.

I think I used a total of about 10 different internet cafés/sites on two trips, one in Rome and all the rest in very small villages in Umbria. In one place in Umbria that I used several times, the first time I used it I was asked to show my passport, and the owner typed my passport no. and name and address into his computer before giving me the password to use a computer. I don't recall that or any other "procedure" being followed in any of the other places I used. I didn't think at the time that asking me for my passport was an invasion of my privacy. I guess I just assumed it was the same as a hotel asking for it.

64- <b>Don't do it!</b>

Criminals sometimes run programs called &quot;key loggers&quot; on public computers that record your every keystroke and transmit them to the criminal.

Most 3* upward hotels have internet access for a few euros at most. I use these to check email and often to look at train tickets for the next leg of the journey when we are making it up as we go along.

Uh, the possibility that the hotel computer has been compromised is greater than zero.

I would not check on my investment portfolio from <u>any</u> public computer.

we have used internet cafes from Stockholm to Sydney to email friend and family.

Even banks and card companies get hacked in, so it is better not to input personal info. ( in some cities you have to watch your bag, backpack or purse because they can be stolen while you are busy on the net - happened to a friend in Amsterdam)

Every hotel, pension, and B&amp;B that we stayed in on our two trips to Europe last year had a PC available. That doesn't mean that all accomodations will, but it is much more common than a few years ago.

No public computer, B&amp;B, cafes, etc., is safe for anything. It is always possible that they could have skyware running to capture your pass words, account numbers, etc. Even public wireless networks are not secure.

When traveling we use a specific e-mail addresses. We send to ourselves at that address an e-mail containing all of our important credit card numbers etc., coded so that we have access to that imformation if needed. For transfers funds or other financial transactions we entrust that to a local individual with all of the information needed to complete the transactions. If that needs arises we send an e-mail that says, Do it 1000 or 500 or what every amount is needed and a pass word. The pass word is the coded day of the week. For example -- for day it would be, Do it 500, yoyeyd. It is simple and very secure. If that was capture and someone what to repeat it, they would not know that the password changes daily or how to change it.

But if they wanted to duplicate the transaction on the <u>same</u> day?

I think this scheme could be more secure.

Cannot -- one transaction perday/per password. It is more than secure enough for the average thief. Go ahead, tell me what the password for tomorrow would be.

We just returned from 3 weeks in Andalucia. Internet was not as accessible as we thought it would be. Only 2 of the several places we stayed had Internet access available. In small towns, Internet cafes were hard to find. And don't forget to plan for Siesta. One that we found was closing at 1:30 PM for Siesta. We ended up using the Internet twice in the 3 weeks.

Robespierre,

Try some decaf. When I'm in Italy the last thing I want to be doing is checking on my investment portfolio,filing taxes, or anything like that. It's email, you know, Hi, having a great time, glad you're not here! etc.

To address only the OP's question: yes, for one such device, my Blackberry seems to receive and send email everywhere have been in Europe (just about everywhere) and elsewhere around the globe.

2Italy: thank you for the gratuitous advice about what I should drink.

The fact that is that experienced investors with substantial holdings like to check up on things regularly.

Robespierre wrote: &quot;The fact that is that experienced investors with substantial holdings like to check up on things regularly.&quot;

I am happy that my modest assets do not impose such a burden on me.

Actually Robespierre is absolutely right in that respect. ;-) If you don't check your accounts, you'll loose money. If you don't do your taxes once a month, you get fined. If you do trust someone else to do it, it won't be done right. If you're away frome home for more than a month, you need to have all data accessible over the internet to do your tax declaration online from abroad. Accessing sensitve data? For internet banking an indexed TAN number is sufficient for me. Change the password after each transaction, the TAN can only be used once, check online if the transaction has been carried out properly, I don't see any danger.

Excuse me, I didn't know you were such a high roller. I defer to the money.

2Italy wrote: &quot;I defer to the money.&quot;

Don't. Find some way of moving it to you.

Come on !!! I think Leggo999 is pulling our collective legs. I know of no taxes that need to be filled month -- quarterly estimates are estimates. Monthly payroll takes would be done by the accountant. High rollers have money managers and accountants that take care of these things. They don't do that themselves.

Well, this medium-low roller has to file quarterly tax payments equal to the tax on one-fourth of what I project I will earn over the year. It's the self-employed version of the tax that an employer deducts from a worker's gross pay.

I also have trailing stop loss orders on my equity positions that I have to tighten when a stock takes off. There is no automated way to do this that I know of. And I have to look at it every day the market is open.

I hope to someday have money managers and accountants.